Bumper



H. s. JANDUS Jul 16, 1929.

BUMP ER Filed March 19, 1927 2 Sheets$heet l BUMPER Filed Mafch 19. 1927 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 g 7MMMZ/M Patented July 16, 1929. I'

UNITED STATES,

PATENT FFICE--,

HERBERT s. JAivDUs, or DETROIT, MICHIGAN, AssIGNoR TO THE 0. G. SPRING &

BUMPER COMPANY, OF DETROIT, MICHIGAN, A CORPORATION" OF DELAWARE.'-

BUMPER.

Application filed March 19, 1927. Serial No. 176,666.-

This invention relates to vehicle bumpers and more particularly to the provision of a resilient bumper which will afford greater resistance to impacts. I v

Further objects of the invention are to provide a bumper which may be convenlently attached to cars of different widths and one which will present a more attractive appearance.

Further objects will be apparent from the following description and'the use of the combination of elements covered by the claims;

"In the drawings Fig. 1 is a plan view of the bumper and supportarms; F ig; 2 shows a front elevation of the bumper; Fig. 3 shows a sectional view taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1; Fig. 4: is a sectional view taken on the lineHofFig.1..";

For convenience the bumper will be described as attached to the front of a vehicle and designation of thefront and rear portions thereof will be made with reference to such attachment, but it is not intended n so doing to restrict the use of the bumper to any particular portion of the machine.

Referring to the drawings, reference char acters 1, 2'and 3 denote the bars of the impact element, which may preferably be made'of spring steel which has been given a protecwhich are curved and tapered at their ends to form a rearwardly curved narrowed Port/1011 at each end of the impact element. The cen-.

tral impact bar 2 is preferably placed in a vertical plane and the bars l and 8'are suite ably positioned respectively above and below, and in planes inclined to this bar and are so spaced from it as to allow the passageof the.

bolts 4 and 5 between the bars. V

The impact bars areheld in proper spaced relation by means of clamps 6, 6 at the end portions of thebars and a clamp 7 at the central portion, of the bar, which clamps will be more fully described hereinafter. a

The impact element is supported by means of arear bar 8 which is'pivotally connected at its ends to the clamps 6, 6 and is bent forwardly at its central portion for attachment to the center clamp 7. The support arms 9, 9 are connected at their rear ends to the vehicle (not shown) and at. their forward ends are pivotally connected to the rear bar 8 by means of the pivot clamps 10, 10 which may be adjusted to the proper width of car by sliding them along the rear bar and clamptive coat of nickel or other suitable'metal and ing themat the desired point by means of I cap screw 11, 11.

The center clamp is madejup of a from plate7 adapted to bear at its centralportion upon the front surface of the impact bar 2' and at its end portions upon the front sufi 1 faces of the impact bars 1 and 3, a rear plate- 7 adapted to bear at its central portion upon the rear surface of the rear bar 8 and at its end portions upon the rear'surfaces of the impact bars 1 and 3, and bolts a'and 5 passrear clamping plates 7 and 7 The front" surface of the plate 7 provides seats for the heads of the bolts 4: and 5 and the rear surface of the plate 7 provides seats for the Iiuts and 5. By tightening these nuts the plates ing between the bars and-Ithru the front and 7 and 7 are drawn toward each other and] thereby clamp the bars 1, 2,13 and 8 firmly in their proper positions. These platesare preferablyof cast metal but they'may be of other material, such as spring steel, if de sired. t v

Each end clamp is made up of plates 6 and GEhaving their end portions bent to conform to the desired angular displacement of the impact bars 1, 2 and 3"and adapted to bear" upon the front and 'rear surfaces, respec-v tively, of these bars. The bars 1, 2 and 3 are held in position by means of the bolts 12, 13

and 14 passing through the platesfi and'6'f and thru the bars 1, 2 and 3 respectively.- These plates are also preferably mad-efof cast metal but may be of other material if desired. v ,j

A U-shaped bracket 15 is clampedto the rear surface of the central portion' jof the plate 6 by means of the bolt 13 passing through this plate. At each end of the rear bar 8 there is formed an eye 16 adaptedto fit around a pin 17 passing through thehol-es V in the end-portions of the plate'15, thereby forming a pivotal connection between therear bar "and the impact element.

The ends of the bars 1, 2 and 3 are held together by means of the castings :18, 18 to which they arefastened by .the .bolts '19. These casting are adapted to bear. upon the rear surfaces of the end portions of the impact bars and they prevent the ends of the bars from becoming separated as a result of a permanent bending of the bars; Theouter ends of these castings may be enlarged and rounded to present a smooth surface at the end of the impact elementwhich will reduce 6 ported by the plates of the clamps.

the tendency of the bars to hook behind obstructions or to scratch objects with which they may come in contact. a

A blow struck upon the impactelement will be resisted, not onlyby the bending, tension and compression stresses set up in the impact bar 2 and the rear bar 8, but by the further resistance of the torsionalstresses in the two bars 1 and 3, which will tend to be twisted in their supports by the force of the blow.

The curved end portions of the impact ele-' ment provide for increased rigidity at these portions and present smooth, curved surfaces which will deflect blows directed toward them. i V I V It-is apparentthat other means for clamping the bars than those described may be substituted without deviating from the scope of the invention and it is not intended to limit the use to the' particular clamping means shown. It is also apparent that the impact element maybe made up of two, or more than three, impact barsmounted in planes at different'angles to the'vertical. lVher-eas the ends of the impact elemental-e shown in contact with each other andthus forming smooth continuous surfaces, it' may be desirable to have spaces between the bars at these port ons of'the impact element, and also it may be de as to provide an impact surface-which will lie substantially onthe arc of a circle.

apparent that such are may be increased to as, great a portion of the circle as is desired by It is increasing the number of bars used to make up the impact surfaces. This construction forms, in'efiect, a section of a tubular bumper and the spacing between the bars and/or the width of the bars may be so reduced asto form substantially a continuous curve as is more clearly shown at the ends of the bumper shown inthe drawings. Where the impact bars are in contact as at the ends of the bumper or where the bars are in contact with the bolts, as shown in Fig. 4, a substantially arched impact section is formed which is sup- The rigidity of the impact section is increased by the construction shown.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

1. A vehicle'bumper including an impact member made up of separate bars placed in planes inclined to each other, and a rear bar pivotally connected to the end portions of said impact member.

'2. A vehicle bumper including an impact member made up of separate bars placed in planes inclined to each other, a rear bar pivotally connected to the end'portions of said implanes inclined to each other, a rear barconnected to the'end portions of the impact memher and to the central portion of the impact member. v

4. 'A vehicle bumper including an impact member made up of separate bars placed in planes inclinedto each other, a rear bar connected to the end portions and the central portion ofthe impact member and means for pivotally connecting the rear bar to support arms attached to a vehicle.

5. A vehicle bumperincluding an impact bars'of spring steel in planes inclined to each other, clamps for holding the bars in proper spaced relation, said clamps consisting of plates adapted to bear upon thefront and rear surfaces of the bars and means for drawing adjacent plates toward eachother.

7. 'An impact element including a plu-' rality of bars of spring steel placed in planes inclined to each other and having their ends tapered and curved to form smooth surfaces at the ends of the impact element, and clamping means for holding the bars in proper spaced relation. 1 I

8. An impact element including a plu- "member made up of separate bars placed in rality of bars of spring steel placed in' planes inclined to each other and having their ends tapered and curved to] form smooth surfaces at theends of the impact element, clamping means for holding the bars in proper spaced relation, said clamps including plates adapted to bear upon the front and rear surfaces of the bars and bolts for d rawing the plates together.

9. An impact element including a bar placed in a substantially vertical plane, one or more bars placed in planes at angles to that of said vertical plane and clamping means for holding the bars in proper spaced relation. 10. An impact element-including a spring steel bar placed in a substantially vertical plane, a plurality of spring steel bars in planes other than a vertical plane I and clamping means for holding said bars in proper spaced relation. W

11. A vehicle bumper including an impact element made up of bars placed in planes inclined to each other and having their ends tapered and curved to form continuous smooth surfaces at the ends of theimpact element, and a rear bar connected to the end portions of the impact element. 7

12. A vehicle bumper including an impact element made up of bars clamped in planes inclined to each other and having their ends tapered and curved to form continuous smooth surfaces at the ends of the impact element, a rear bar connected to the end portions and tothe central portion of the impact element, and support arms pivotally connected to the rear bar.

13. An impact element including a plurality of bars placed in planes inclined to each other, said bars having their ends tapered and bent to form smooth surfaces at the ends of the impact element and having their ends rigidly connected to each other,

and clamping means forholding the central portion of the bars in proper spaced relation.

14-. In a bumper impact element the com bination of a plurality of bars in planes inclined to the vertical, said bars having their end portions taperedand bent to form smooth surfaces at the ends of the impact element, means for connecting the ends of the bars to each other, said means consisting of a plate adapted to be attached to end portions of the rear surfaces of the bars, said plate having an enlarged end portion adapted to extend beyond the ends of the bars, and means for clamping the end portion of each bar to the said plate.

15. A vehicle bumper comprising vertically spaced separate impact bars. having their front surfaces in planes inclined to each other and having their end portions adj acent -to form a smooth surface.

18. The combination With a bumper impact 7 section made up of bars supported so as to lie substantially in an arc of a circle, of means for clamping said bars together, and means for supporting said impact section, said last mentioned means comprising a bar pivotally connected at spaced points to the impact sec tion and spaced rearwardly from said impact section intermediate said points of connection.

19. A vehicle bumper comprising an impact section including longitudinally extending bars clamped to, each other so as to increase the effective thickness of saidimpact section, and means for supporting said clamped bars from a vehicle said means ineluding a bar connected to the end-and middle portions of the impact section.

20. A vehicle bumper comprising an arched impact section including a plurality of longitudinally extending bars clamped together in planes inclined to each other, and means for supporting said impactsection said means including a rear bar pivotally connected at its ends to the impact section and arched for- Wardly intermediate said ends for connection to the impact section. I

21. A bumper comprising an impact section including a plurality of longitudinally extending bars having their adjacent edges in contact at the end portions and spaced laterallty intermediate such end portions, and means or supporting said impact section.

22. A bumper comprising an impact'section including a plurality of bars having. their adjacent edges in contact at their end loo A 24. A bumper comprising an impact sec- 1 tion including aplurality of bars clamped together in planes inclined to each other, said bars having their adjacent edges in contact at their end portions and spaced apart intermediate said end portions, and means for supporting said impact section. p

25. A vehicle bumper comprising an impact section including a plurality of bars having their central portions in planes inclined to each other and having their ed es at one end portion adjacent each other to orm a smooth surface at that portion, and means-connected to the impact section intermediate its ends for supporting it from a vehicle. V

26. A vehicle bumper comprising an impact section including a plurality of bars having their central portions in planes inclined to each other and having their edges at an end portion adjacent each other to form a smooth surface at that portion, means for connecting the ends ofthe bars, and means connected to the impact section intermediate its ends for supporting said section from a vehicle. i

In testimony whereof, I hereunto afiix my signature.

HERBERT s. JANDUS. 

